Construction and Colours

Rockpool kayaks are manufactured from the highest quality resins and cloth and are available in an extensive range of custom colour combinations. We can offer standard hand lay-up or vacuum bagged constructions.

Vac bag construction is a manufacturing process used to ensure a more uniform wetting of the reinforcing fabric and removal of excess resin matrix in order to produce a stronger and lighter kayak.

All of our deck fittings are recessed and fitted externally to prevent leaks.

We also fit 'floating' bulkheads; these allow a little ‘give’ in order to minimize the stresses on the hull and deck during day to day use, they also reduce weight.

Quality Kajaksport hatches are fitted as standard to all of our kayaks; they’re tough and reliable. All hatches have internal clipped tether lines to prevent loss.

Colours and Artwork
We enjoy adding individuality to each boat through our custom colours/artwork; we don’t do 'standard colours'! Let us produce the boat of your dreams…

We take pride in our custom kayaks and we want to ensure your kayak stands out from the crowd!

Bespoke artwork included in the quoted price:

Deck: Up to 3 colours/glitter; starfish/kelp and colour fade designs as required.

Hull: Single colour; no glitter (except alpha jewel dusting).

Seam/cockpit/seat rim: single colour per item as required.

We can also accept detailed design graphics and logos sent in JPEG format – again contact us for details.

We are happy cater for more detailed artwork requests but in order to accommodate the increased workload we may have to add a small surcharge – contact us for details.

Note:
Extensive artwork/glitter will add weight to a finished kayak, the more colours the greater the weight!

Construction

Standard:

Hand lay-up

Polyester resin

Chopped strand mat and Glass cloth

Our standard construction gives a robust and hard wearing kayak at the lowest cost. It is also easy to repair.

Vac 2:

Vac bag construction

Epoxy resin

Glass and Diolen fabric

Kevlar/Carbon and Spheretex reinforcing patches

The Vac-2 construction gives a good balance of weight, strength and durability with increased impact resistance.

Premier:

Vac bag construction

Epoxy resin

Glass, Diolen and Kevlar/Carbon fabrics

Kevlar/Carbon and Spheretex reinforcing patches

The Premier construction gives a significant weight saving but at the cost of slightly reduced durability. This construction will provide increased performance and easier handling but requires a little more day to day care

Comparison Chart

Construction

Strength

Durability

Lightweight

Ease of Repair

Standard (Polyester/Glass)

*****

*****

**

*****

Vac-2 (Epoxy/Diolen)

****

****

****

****

Premier (Epoxy/Kev-Carb)

****

***

*****

***

Options

Seats
Seats are available in Standard or Performance versions across the range – excluding the Taran. The Performance seat is a deeper ’bucket’ style to give better contact and feedback with the kayak.

The Taran has a fixed Performance seat – available in two sizes.

Skegs
At Rockpool we fit our own in-house skeg design. As you would expect, this is an innovative design which uses a skeg cable under tension rather than compression. This means that the if the skeg is inadvertently left down when landing – the skeg slider is drawn back as the skeg is forced back into its housing, rather than causing the cable to kink.

All kayaks are fitted with Rockpool skegs as standard - except the Taran which is fitted with the Smart Track rudder system as standard.

We can provide a service to retro fit skegs to any Rockpool boats if required.

Bulkheads
Bulkheads are available as 'floating' or glassed-in versions.

Electric Pump
A lightweight electric pump system is available as an option. This can be fitted during manufacture or as a factory retro-fit. The system has a small electric bilge pump fitted behind the seat. This is powered by a sealed lead/acid gel battery (battery charger included) housed in a protective cover fitted in the day hatch. Operation is controlled by a pneumatically operated footswitch which minimizes the exposure of the electrics in the wet area.